The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 2

2A THE DES MOINES REGISTER Wednesday, June 15, 1988 DATELINE IOWA BOB NANDELLTht Rtglsltr Adventureland Drtvo 3 i li Lii 11 1 ft U.S.Hwy.65 Horsa stables 8 -J 1 Tf7 7l 4 i of America "1 1 Adventureland Estates -V wHe 1 it -I 1 Grandstand! s' Prairie Meadows fc-w "v--vr. l4y? i rTm i rf I 'Vvn 5'-- 1 mV rt jl. cy IM Antitrust trial of school bus sellers opens By JACK HOVELSON Of Tht Rtalittr't WattrlM Burtau FORT DODGE, IA. Five dealers "coordinated in a clever way" a scheme to fix prices of school bus bodies sold to Iowa school districts, a federal prosecutor charged here Tuesday in the opening day of the dealers' trial on antitrust charges. Mark R.

Ortlieb, a U.S. Department of Justice lawyer from Chicago, said in his opening remarks to a jury selected Tuesday that the sales staffs from the companies conspired to decide which of them would submit the lowest bids to specific school districts and thus get the contracts to provide the bus bodies. "The dealers met and agreed on price guidelines," Ortlieb said. "The dealer who was to get a particular sale would submit a bid under the guideline, while the others would submit bids above it." He told jurors that between 1982 and 1986, the dealers divided up among themselves the school districts in 75 central and eastern Iowa counties to determine who would sell buses to which schools. 6th Dealer Pleaded Guilty Six dealers originally were indicted on the federal price-fixing charges.

But one, Wayne Steinkamp, president and owner of Hawkeye Bus Sales of Des Moines, pleaded guilty last month in an agreement with prosecutors and will testify in the tri Waverly man killed in barn collapse nearOelwein Tht Reisttr'i low Ntwi Strvlct OELWEIN, IA. A Waverly man died Tuesday when a barn collapsed on top of him on a farm northeast of Oelwein. Jack Hartshorn, estimated to be In his mid-60s, was working with farmer Paul Lehs to tear down an old barn on the Lehs farm when it collapsed shortly before noon, Oelwein Fire Chief Wallace Rundle said. Lehs suffered minor injuries. Elsewhere, Albert Davis, 57, of Grinnell is presumed dead after he slipped into the Des Moines River Monday while trying to retrieve his drifting fishing boat, Marion County sheriff's officials said.

Searchers failed to find Davis' body on Monday and Tuesday. Woman critically burned in Amber restaurant fire Tht Rffltstcr'i Iowa Ntws Strvkt AMBER, IA. A woman was critically burned Monday in a fire that heavily damaged the tavern-restau rant she shares with her husband in this Jones County town. A long shot of Altoona track Mildred Tonne, 65, who is unable to walk because of an improperly Construction of Prairie Meadows horse-racing track, shown here in an aeri- only pari-mutuel borse-racing track in Iowa, is scheduled to open in March al view, is progressing on schedule. The Altoona track, which will be the 1989.

The track is being built by the Racing Association of Central Iowa. healed broken hip, crawled to the doorway of the Amber Inn with her clothes aflame, Amber Fire Chief al here. The five dealers and five corpora Ivan Eden said. Tonne and her hus band, Lauren, once operated the his tions on trial are Hawkeye Superior Bus Sales Inc. of Manson and its president, Ronald D.

Filloon of Rockwell toric business, which dates back to the mid-1800s. Mildred Tonne, who Counterfeiter sent to prison Dubuque officials reject nuke plant's accident plan was home alone when the fire broke City; Midwest Transportation Inc. of Ames and its salesman, Kraig Brow-er; Minnesota Body and Equipment Conventions likely in close House contests out, was in critical conditions at an Iowa City hospital Tuesday night. Co. of Shakopee, and president Robert Rost; Saf-T-Liner Bus Sales Inc.

of Des Moines and former assis Former Iowa State student to be tried in Fort Dodge From Tht Rtgiiitr't Amn Bureau tant manager Emery Hadley; and United School Equipment of Iowa Inc. of Omaha and president Donald Bahnsen. Prosecutor Ortlieb contended to DUBUQUE, IA. (AP) Dubuque County officials have rejected a plan to act as host to people who are exposed to radiation in the event of an accident at the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant at Palo. The evacuation plan presented Monday night by Iowa Electric Light Power Co.

lists Dubuque as one of three host counties for evacuees in AMES, IA. The trial of a former Iowa State University student accused of stabbing to death an Ames man will be held in Fort Dodge By THOMAS A. FOGARTY RMitttr Staff Wrnw Special nominating conventions will have to be held in two Iowa House districts where no candidate achieved the minimum number of the jury that the dealers met several times during the fall of 1985 in Omaha and Des Moines motels to work out details of the agreement. July 26. Lawyers for Yvette Louisell, 17 But lawvers for the dealers count argued successfully last month that Louisell should not be tried in Story County because pre-trial publicity ered in their opening statements that the dealers met to exchange information about sales but did not use the information illegally.

"Good Business Practice" prejudiced potential jurors. Louisell is accused in the death of Keith Stilwell, 42, a budget analyst with the National Animal Disease "Dealers concentrated on certain By VICTORIA BENNING Rwuttr Staff Wrlttr An Ames man was sentenced Tuesday to four months in prison and two years on probation for his involvement in an international counterfeiting operation. U.S. District Judge Charles R. Wolle ordered Roger El-Khoury, 26, to spend four months in a residential correction center and concurrent terms of two years' probation on each of three charges.

El-Khoury had previously pleaded guilty to two charges of passing counterfeit money and one count of possession of counterfeit money. Wolle ordered El-Khoury to perform 80 hours of community service, pay $150 to the crime victim fund and make restitution to those people to whom he passed counterfeit money. El-Khoury was one of six people charged in a scheme in which investigators said counterfeit $100 bills were printed outside the United States and then sent to the country. In other court news, Thomas L. Dorsett, 37, of Council Bluffs was placed on probation and ordered to undergo treatment for alcohol abuse after being convicted of stealing a generator from the U.S.

Air Force. the city's Senior and Hempstead high schools. There, the American Red Cross would provide food, sleeping supplies and clothing. Iowa Electric officials emphasized that an accident is unlikely and that if there were one, contamination levels would be low. Even in a worst-case accident, radiation would dissipate to harmless levels by the time it reached Dubuque County, they said.

"We're not talking about something we expect to happen," said Jim Tos-cas of Irnpell the engineering firm that helped prepare the plan. "Even Three Mile Island, had it happened today, would not have required an evacuation." Nevertheless, City Council members and supervisor Donna Smith said they are concerned about contaminated people entering Dubuque County. Council members pushed for provisions to hold contaminated vehicles at the county line and transport occupants in city- or county-supplied vehicles. Hingtgen agreed to that stipulation. The Iowa State Patrol would monitor incoming vehicles on U.S.

Highway 141 and U.S. Highway 20 with high-speed devices that read radiation levels. customers because that's just good business practice," said James A. Brewer of Ames, the lawyer for Mid- west Transportation Inc. "There are schools that just won't take bids from certain companies." Laboratory in Ames.

County recounts votes, provides different winner Tht Rtfllittr'i lowi Ntws Strvlct WASHINGTON, IA. Artie Lov case of a nuclear accident at the company's Duane Arnold Energy Center northwest of Cedar Rapids. David Hingtgen, Iowa Electric's emergency planning coordinator, said his company will revise the plan to include provisions to hold contaminated vehicles at the Dubuque County line. Hingtgen said the company also will make another change Dubuque officials requested to cover the city and county's legal defense expenses In the event of lawsuits by evacuees. The Dubuque City Council and the Dubuque County Board of Supervisors will consider the revised plan at their meetings next Monday.

Iowa Electric is required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to file an emergency evacuation plan. Defense attorneys also contended that several of the prosecution's wit ick has been declared one of two nesses who have received immunity from prosecution have had legal and financial problems. Ortlieb conceded, Democratic nominees for vacant seats on the Washington County Board of Supervisors after a recount of votes from last week's primary votes needed to be nominated in last week's primary election, officials said Tuesday. Iowa law requires a candidate to receive 35 percent of the votes cast to win nomination. But the canvasses of the June 7 primary election results by county election officials this week show that the Democratic candidates fell short of that percentage in House District 67, which includes Monroe, Lucas and Wayne counties and part of Clarke County, and in House District 90, which includes Guthrie and Madison counties and parts of Adair and Dallas counties.

The candidates have until 5 p.m. Thursday to request a recount, which might alter the outcome. But Joe Shannahan, legislative director for the Iowa Democratic Party, said he doubts that any of the eight candidates running for the two seats will ask for one. In House District 67, one vote separated Bob Hellyer of Chariton and Larry Martley of Corydon. Each fell a whisker short of the 35 percent minimum.

Canvass results in the four counties of the district show Hellyer finished with 768 votes, or 34.42 percent of the vote, and Martley finished with 767 votes, or 34.38 percent. In House District 90, Dave Hibbard They may not be choir boys You election showed him to be the winner. may hear some unflattering things said about them." Unofficial returns last week had Ferdinand Marie edging out Lovick Iowa's 436 public school districts for the nomination by a 330-308 margin. But a Board of Supervisors' re buy an estimated 300 to 500 school buses each year, Ortlieb said. "Carving up" the districts and fixing the view of the ballots found some of the precincts misread results from ballot machines, and declared Lovick the prices for buses may have driven up the costs school districts had to pay, winner by 314-311.

Washington County Auditor Shirley Steele said it is not uncommon for er rors to be discovered when the votes are canvassed. Palo Alto County sheriff's deputy appeals firing Tht Registtr'i Iowa Ntwi Strvlct of Booneville finished with 461 votes, or 34.71 percent. Charles Clark of Winterset finished three votes behind, with 34 5 1 percent of the vote. The plan lists Dubuque, Buchanan and Johnson counties as hosts for Linn County and Benton County residents only in the case of a general emergency, which is the most severe accident at the plant. Buchanan and Johnson counties already have approved the plan, said Bob Gooch, Dubuque disaster services director.

Iowa Electric presented an evacuation plan to Dubuque officials in 1985, but has revised it to meet updated federal agency regulations, Hingtgen said. The main difference is that the earlier version called for 21,219 people from Marion and northeast Cedar Rapids to evacuate to Dubuque, while the new plan calls for 9,582. The new estimate is based on what is expected to be residents' actual evacuation habits, which take most of them to cities where relatives and friends live rather than to official host counties, Hingtgen said. Dubuque would hold evacuees at Pickup owners face higher fees By JACK HOVELSON Of Tht Rtgtttar't Wattrtoo Burtau If you were born in June and own a pickup truck, don't wait until July to buy it a new license. That's the message from Iowa's county treasurers, who warn that this year there is really no one-month grace period for the June-birthday pickup owners.

Normally, car and truck owners have one month after the month of their birthdays in which to pay their vehicle license fees without penalty. That is still true, except that on July 1 higher pickup license rates go into effect. Therefore, the license for a three-ton pickup that costs $45 in June will be $65 in July, even if the owner's birthday was in June. "We've been sending out notices about that to all the people with June birthdays," said Washington County Treasurer Charles Pacha, president of the Iowa State County Treasurers' Association. Presently, owners of three-ton pickups pay $45 for a license if the vehicle is up to 10 years old, $35 if older.

Beginning July 1, there will be four classifications: $65 for pickups up to 10 years old; $55 for those 11 to 13 years old; $45 for 14- and 15-year-old models; and $35 for any beyond that. Also increasing in July will be the license fees for four-ton pickups from $60 to $80, regardless of age and five-ton models from $70 to $90 EMMETSBURG, IA. A lawyer for former Palo Alto County sheriff's he said. School bus bodies and chassis are sold separately in Iowa. The bodies, which include the walls, ceiling, floor, seats and accessories, cost $13,000 to $18,000.

The fate of each person and company on trial here will be decided separately by the U.S. District Court jury. The maximum penalty for a company convicted of antitrust charges is a fine that is the greater of $1 million, twice the monetary gain of the crime or twice the loss incurred by its victims. The company representatives face up to three years in prison if convicted and maximum fines that are the greater of $250,000, twice the monetary gain or twice the victims' loss. The trial, being held before U.S.

District Judge David Hansen, is expected to last at least three weeks. The special nominating conven deputy Russell Jergens Tuesday hied an appeal of Jergens' dismissal with the county's civil service commis tions will include all Democratic county central committee members in the legislative districts. Nominations are taken from the floor. But the sion. Spencer lawyer Richard Barry said delegates are not limited to candidates whose names were on the primary election ballot.

Shannahan said he hopes both con ventions can be held this month. "The sooner the better," he said. Mayor vows to get in a lather to hasten talks 1 -'-a he filed the papers at the county auditor's office. Auditor George Kliegl says the commission must rule on the appeal within two weeks. Sheriff J.

Albert Neary fired Jergens, 30, last week after defeating him in the Democratic primary for sheriff. Jergens, a deputy for seven years, said the sheriff charged him with insubordination, dereliction of duty and prejudicial conduct. Burglar arrested rather than saved by dialing 91 1 Tht Rttlittr't Iowa Ntwi Strvlct INDIANOLA, IA. Indlanola police's swift response to a call on their 911 emergency line turned out to be bad news for the caller, who was arrested rather than rescued. Patrick James Claman, 23, of In-dianola allegedly dialed the number by mistake after entering Indianola High School shortly after midnight June 6, police Sgt.

Pete Berry said. The intruder hung up as soon as police answered, but a computer tells police the caller's location as soon as the call is made. Claman is charged with second degree burglary, Berry said, although nothing was stolen. Berry said Claman probably tried to dial a number beginning with 916, a prefix used throughout the Indianola area. By GENE RAFFENSPERGER Rtvltttr Staff Wrlttr Dubuque Mayor James Brady calls his beard his "dearest personal possession." He's worn it 15 years, almost the exact time he's been in public life, including stints as mayor and city councilman.

Each St. Patrick's Day he uses food coloring to dye it green. So he wouldn't shave it on just any whim. But he says he will shave, and in public, if by the Fourth of July the Iowa Department of Transportation, the city of Dubuque and two railroads can come to an agreement on terms of a contract that will get a long-awaited highway project going. Brady doesn't fear for his beard.

And DOT officials say that if he doesn't lose it, it will only be because tying up loose ends in a $135 million project is not as simple as paving a sidewalk. In fact, this deal has been 20 years in the planning. Summed up, the project's aim Is to reroute U.S. Highways 61 and 151 through part of downtown Dubuque to the City Island Bridge, where the two highways cross to Wisconsin. The main stumbling block is an agreement with two railroads whose tracks lie In the path of the project.

The tracks must be moved and combined. And that agreement is taking time. Brady, who said he has become exasperated, issued his challenge at a meeting about a month ago. Get the agreement with the railroads by July 4 and the beard goes, he promised. "To date, the beard has grown about 1 Vt inches and the railroads have not moved an inch," said Brady.

He noted that the DOT identified the project corridor at least five years ago and also knew the tracks belonging to the Soo Line and the Chicago Central and Pacific railroads had to be moved. Still, nothing was agreed to, and Brady fears the DOT might take its money and go to a project In another community. G.W. "Gus" Anderson, deputy director of highways for the DOT, said right-of-way acquisition along the route and negotiations with the railroads have been proceeding diligently. "It's not an easy process," said Anderson, pointing out two major problems.

Because of mergers, the two railroads are not the ones involved in early negotiations. And when the move is agreed upon, the railroads will have to continue to move traffic through the construction area. "They've made this into a Cecil B. DeMille production," said Brady. Maury Burr, district engineer for the DOT, said there is no particular dispute with the railroads, but such negotiations finally come down to lots of numbers and details.

Will the beard stay, or be shaved? "My guess is he'll still have hair on his face on the 4th of July," said Burr. "He has a very handsome beard," said Anderson. Brady, a teacher at Galena, 111., said that even if he shaves he will have the beard back by the time classes start this fall. James Brady Hair today, gone tomorrow?.